I have held off making a lot of comments publicly (though I have made mostly private comments to some of the people critical of Paul's announcement) because I wanted to hear from Paul's mouth, his version of the debate. I have now heard that...and it wasn't pretty.
First of all...I'm going to be up front here...I am no longer a listener of the Window to the Magic Podcast.
The first thing that struck me when I heard about Paul's announcement was it's familiarity. I recall Paul making a similar announcement on his show roughly a year or so ago. Now, it wasn't as critical as the recent announcement but there was a a very strong implication that if people didn't help fund the show...WTTM might go away. So this recent announcement sounded much the same...only the rhetoric was amped up.
This past week Paul and his apparently "adopted" podcast son, Gary Chambers appeared on the Skurvy Monkey Podcast. I'm sure somewhere in Paul's cranium this sounded like a good idea...a venue to share his story. To me, after listening to the show...all that it did was expose Paul as being even more arrogant than I already thought he was.
At the beginning of the show Paul explained that he's trying to become "debt free" and that he's been thinking about needing to end the show for a while. I am also in the middle of tackling this issue for me and my family and I admire Paul for coming to grips with debt and trying to do something about it. The fact that Paul's been thinking about the end of WTTM is very telling, though after listening to the show, I'm not sure that Paul is able to look deep enough past his ego to see that he may have already made his decision.
The fact that Paul has even been thinking about ending the podcast and that he hasn't come out and said up front that the show will continue...tells me he needs to and really wants to pull the plug on Window to the Magic. Nothing lasts for ever. Yes, many of his devoted listeners will miss the show for the short-term...but guess what...there are a gazillion Disney podcasts out there...people will move on and find something else to listen to.
During the rest of the show we heard how much Paul is loved and how important the show is to many people...that WTTM isn't about Paul. Oh come on...really? The more I listened to this show and even when I listened to Window to the Magic...it's quite apparent...it's all about Paul. It's one of the reasons I stopped listening.
The remainder of the show Paul and Gary...well mostly Paul...either directly or indirectly called his detractors liars and cowards, trolls, gutless and not having "the balls" to debate him. The most bizarre statement wasn't even completed but if you listen carefully at about 1 hr 17 minutes into the show, Paul starts to call his critics "perverts" but caught himself. He may not have completed the thought or word, but it's quite apparent what he was going to say.
What happened to taking the "high road" Paul? What happened to the "Mr. Rogers" of podcasting? Sounds more like Eddie Murphy character from SNL, Mr. Robinson to me.
I know for a fact that this show was thrown together on short notice and regardless of what Paul and Gary might think, most listeners have real jobs and real lives and can't just drop everything for 2-3 hours after midnight if you live in the Central or Eastern time zones. Just to be clear...the two main critics both live in the Eastern Time Zone. So...because they couldn't drop everything on less than 2 days notice (closer to 1 day)...that makes them cowards and gutless and afraid to face Paul?
While I'm not close friends with either of these two people...neither is gutless and a coward. Neither one is lacking "the balls" to face "the man". In fact I'm sure they would have looked forward to it though I'm sure it would have been a "no win" situation, so maybe this was for the best that they couldn't make the recording of the show.
I really don't think that this show changed anyone's mind about Paul or the situation. Those that adore Paul will continue to see Paul as the victim. Those that were on the other side of the debate have not changed their mind about Paul after the show. In fact...many of us who have not met Paul personally, we have seen the real Paul...the arrogant and egotistical Paul...the mean and nasty Paul...and it isn't pretty.
